As we pick up speed, the wind noise quickly becomes very loud,

For those of you who bothered by wind noise, check out Cat Ears (https://www.cat-ears.com/). They break up laminar airflow over the ears. For me, long rides are way less mentally fatiguing, and I get to hear more of everything. Also, as @hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com suggested, a mirror of some kind gives you that rearview awareness. There are tons of designs to choose; it’s just a matter of finding what works for you.

There’s so much I love about Aurora. Every time I boot up my video editing laptop or rendering desktop, it’s like… slipping into a hot tub on a cold winter night.

Funny you say that… my previous job was on Win 11 and a sovereign cloud version of Copilot, the latter of which we were “strongly encouraged” to use for everything. That went nowhere fast.

Designer’s Republic was the graphic design firm. Their work is so distinctive and, for me, the apex of 90s graphic design.

The suspension is in the steerer.

It’s not hydraulically damped, on top of being super proprietary. For me, proprietary is a hard nope at any price.

So, you can’t see the woods for the trees. You honed in on the anecdotal example of industry trend, but didn’t refute the trend.

At PAX 2017, I was disappointed by the overwhelming number of battle royale games. There were a handful of games that stood out for story or in-person party play, but the biggest booths were all for MMOs and battle royale games.

I’ve long said that MMO games are so common because storytelling and world-building are hard. Also, Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is shit.

I’m guessing the downvotes are because people fail to see or deliberately ignore the generalization. Of course there are stellar story-driven, single player games still coming out, but 90% shit is to be expected.

My only shred of disagreement here (more of a qualification) is time-wasting. Of course games are for sucking down time. It’s one of the circuses in “Bread and Circuses.” But the same applies to novels, hobbies, and lush green lawns. :D

Another qualification I’ll add: I think we’re just getting more of everything with better coverage and more ubiquitous advertising, so it’s easier to see the shit games. It’s easier than ever to build a game, so of course the tide of garbage rises. But so do the standouts, unfortunately in roughly equal proportions. :D There have some great story-driven games recently as one other commenter noted. For me, “The Expanse,” “Cyberpunk,” and “Become Human” leap to mind (yes, I’m a very late adopter). Two of those are basically visual novels with choices, but the stories hit hard and get into complex moral and social issues.

When you’re ready, I’ll be out on the retirement home patio with a cold one waitin’ for ya. We’ll gripe about it some more.

*Bike cargo gear has always been the part of cycling that nobody really gets excited about. *

Speak for yourself, buddy. I obsess over this stuff.

Racks, panniers, and baskets exist to haul things, and most of them look exactly like what they are, brackets and platforms bolted on as an afterthought.

That is the consequence of careless planning and sloppy installation. Even when things need to be fabricobbled on with adapters, the overall design can be sexy if done with intention and attention.

I love a good modular cargo system, but this system falls down on so many levels.

• Overpriced, but fine, whatever. That is to be expected when putting form over function. This overall system is redolent of cheap headphones that come with cat ears glued on top, stick-on faux hood scoops, and those stupid eyelashes over headlights.
• The front light is passing through a lens and is enclosed in a housing. There is going to be spill and backscatter of the light, reducing the efficacy of the light and affecting the rider’s night vision. Also, passing light through an additional lens for aesthetic purposes only? I highly doubt they used optical glass for that front lens. Also, good modern bicycle headlights have side illumination. This system blocks that.
• The exigence they are pushing is that bicycle cargo is some kind of afterthought. You know what really makes it look like an afterthought? Using clamp-on adapters for everything instead of braze-ons. And even then, systems such as Old Man Mountain and BarYak can still look like they belong there.
• What’s with the width of the mirrors? Those are almost as narrow as my head. My mirror is mounted on my glasses. In order see the car lane, my mirror is set about 1.5 inches outboard of my head. Those mirrors? Most people will be looking at their torso or too far to the sides.
• i didn’t even complete the video because I just couldn’t take any more. But modular racks… Cool. Except there are a ton of modular standards already out there. MIK and Rixen+Kaul leap to mind. These have years of real-world testing and a ton of products. But go ahead, guys. Go your own way.

I don’t know, man… My Gentoo evangelizing coworkers… those dudes fuck. One is in a death metal band, the other is a kick-ass turntablist, and the third is a free-climber. They all wear Crocs with socks and have to beat back the admirers with a stick.

I’m sure it’s the Gentoo that makes them who they are . 😆